On the dress I made this evening I did well. On the story I wrote this afternoon I did well. So now I just deleted the story but fortunately (and here I thank God greatly) I had printed off the story for the reading enjoyment of my family because otherwise I would have no record of it. So I’ll type it back into this post.
Begin here the Fairy Tale does
Once upon a time there was a young lad named Casprel who wanted more than anything to become a great knight. His younger brother, Edgar, had no such ambition. All that Edgar wanted was to be the very best student with the highest grades at the school he attended. So while Edgar patiently studied the meaning of X, the significance of Schrodinger’s Cat, and the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Casprel briskly attempted to learn sword fighting, horseback riding and all other knightly skills. Since he had neither a sword, a horse, or anybody to teach him Casprel was not proceeding very well until one day something happened, a new blacksmith came to town and set up shop. Now blacksmith’s make swords and Casprel was determined to get one but as he didn’t have sufficient funds to purchase a sword he somewhat doubted being able to get one.
However, as fortune and the story teller would have it, word was spread abroad that a dangerous outlaw was in the vicinity and anyone who could catch him would have a fairly large reward. So of course Casprel decided to capture the outlaw. He didn’t want to be selfish,or so he said to hide the fact that he didn’t want to tackle a dangerous outlaw on his own, so he asked his brother Edgar to accompany him on his mission. Casprel also said that he would divide the reward by 1/2 with his brother. Despite this tempting offer Edgar declined and he even was so gracious as to inform Casprel that dividing a number by one half meant doubling the number.
So Casprel set out by himself to capture the outlaw. Not knowing where the dangerous outlaw was did not seem to be a problem for Casprel, at first, who quickly began hunting in all of the likely spots where a dangerous outlaw might hid. But unfortunately all that he found was other search parties and a few snakes who weren’t the two legged type.
Finally Casprel grew weary of the search and decided to stop by the blacksmith’s shop and look at the swords there and see if he wanted one so much that he would continue the search for the dangerous outlaw. As he was looking around the shop he suddenly saw the blacksmith’s daughter come into the shop. She was seventeen and very pretty. Casprel was eighteen and had read somewhere that every knight had his lady love.
As he had far more correct ideas about knighthood and sword fighting than courting Casprel was about to make a fool of himself when the dangerous outlaw suddenly walked into the shop and, with an arrow pointed at the blacksmith’s daughter, he demanded a sword and all the money in the vicinity. The blacksmith was about to obey and the blacksmith’s daughter was about to faint and Casprel was just about to think of a clever plan when the blacksmith’s daughter really did faint and Casprel seized the opportunity, and a large hammer, and quickly struck the dangerous outlaw on the head. This effectively brought down the dangerous outlaw and the blacksmith said that it was a well struck blow and would he like to learn how to be a blacksmith? As the concept of working to earn the money for a sword, or even making a sword for himself, had never entered Casprel’s head he was amazed at the brilliance of it and accepted the offer.
The blackmsith’s daughter, who had regained her senses about the same time that the dangerous outlaw lost his, was very impressed and when Casprel helped her to her feet a moment later she smiled at him very sweetly and Casprel felt that perhaps there was much more to life than becoming a knight,,
So, as you can probably guess, eventually Casprel married the blacksmith’s daughter but Casprel didn’t end up a blacksmith, although he learned the trade. For he got a chance to to become a knight and when he married the blacksmith’s daughter he was Sir Casprel. They lived very happily together and although Sir Casprel was never in the list of the top ten knights he still slew a few dragons and as those dragons had been quite wealthy Sir Casprel became a rich man and lived in happiness and contentment for the rest of his life and was able to leave plenty of money behind for his descendants, who were quite numerous.
As for Edgar he went on studying and after graduating from school in the top of his class and with honors he suddenly realized that his scholastic goals were now fulfilled and he had no clue as to what to do next. So he became a professor and never became even one tenth as rich as his brother. but he did have a comfortable income and although he didn’t quite live happily ever after(he didn’t marry a beautiful princess, in fact he never married at all) he still lived close enough to it to be quite content.
MORAL: While a thorough knowledge of Algebra, Schrodinger’s Cat, and the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire are all very well in their way some people can do very well without them. At least I hope so…
THE END